white growth on top of head

[MikeNYC]

My Apisto has a small growth right on the top of his head, just behing his eyes. It started as a speck a few weeks ago and has grown larger and is a little bit fuzzy. It looks as though it has broken through his skin.

Is this hole in the head disease? The fish is still eating, chasing other fish and his colors are normal.

My water parameters are all normal and this has not afflicted any other fish in the tank. Although, this all started after my heater broke while I was on vacation and the water temp dropped 6-8 degrees for a few days.

I plan on changing the water 50% every few days and feeding more frozen live foods for nutrition.

Any other ideas?

 

[fishgeek]

how old is the fish?
did the are area start as just a plae flat area and then slowly become raised like a pimple before the fuzzy surface growth?

i have seen what i think maybe ulcers associated with tb in elder fish that are generally solitary and very slowly progressive (some have definetly progressed to granuloma's)
i was thinking of trying rifampicin nect time and prehaps even collecting a sample to confirm next time i see , as yet i have had no success in the 3 times i have seen this

andrew

 

[MikeNYC]

The fish is not quite a year old yet - he is an Apisto Elizabethae. Yes, it started flat and then became a small white pimple and then became a bit fuzzy and seems to have broken the skin.

He has had this for about 2-3 weeks now. Still eating normal and chasing other fish, and trying to get his female into his cave.

How long do these progress for? Is there any hope that it will get better?

 

[fishgeek]

the furry surface may just be secondary infection with either fungus saprolegenia or bacteria of the columnaris group

net fish remove area and paint neat medication directly onto area


my exerience with granuloma that i have thoug to be tb related have been around 3-5 mths from noticing to death

when you ay a year is that in your hands or did you breed him?

andrew

 

[MikeNYC]

I have had the fish for 10 months now. He has been healthy until recently. He was wild caught.

He is still eating and acting normal. I have upped his feeding regimen to include a variety of foods, including more live frozen foods and vitamin enriched freeze dried. His sore appears to be looking slightly better in the past day or so.

Any particular medicine that you can recommend to apply directly to his head? I am going to begin treating him for a bacterial infection. The sore does not match up with "hole in the head", as I have seen examples of "pits" on other web sites that do not match my fish' symptoms.

 

[fishgeek]

i tend to use esha 2000 in this situation, is just a traditional mix of dye's
any proprietary broad spectrum medication will work similarly to stop secondary infection of the wound
thats what the fuzzy surface sounds like to me

andrew

if you want to soource antibiotics (your in the states?) then rifampicin maybe an alternative to try for